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Your usual correspondent having abandoned the delights of the Common for the more questionable pleasures afforded by the M11 and London’s infamous North Circular Road, the goings on at the most recent steam bath known as a working party come to you courtesy of Team Leaders Julie and Margaret: hence the improvement in quality.

It was a beautiful morning to be on the Common, with blue skies and sunshine, and we had a great turnout of 16 volunteers. We started on time with John finishing off the cutting that he and Dave had done on Thursday. Thankfully, following all that dry weather the cut material was really light and easily raked.

The winch has been repaired and was working like a dream!

We had a bit of excitement when one of our very experienced sheet handlers toppled over when pulling a full sheet onto the heap - I was so restrained to not photograph it as it was very funny once we realised he was ok. He was firmly wedged with feet under the reed and back leaning against a tree. We had almost got to the point of using the winch to retrieve him when he managed to wriggle out! He was absolutely fine, thank goodness!

The other excitement came half an hour in when a wasp nest was discovered. We don’t think we had any victims, and a respectful distance was kept after that!

At that point it was realised that the volunteers were making extremely short work of clearing the fen opposite the “Chadwick Bench” so the decision was made to dispatch Grizzly to the bench side to start cutting over there - starting with a route through to a suitable winching point.

Here’s what we mean by lone working – can’t think what she must have said!

And here’s the obligatory arty shot of a few pitchforks standing about while everyone takes a rest:

Since it was so hot, a shady nook under the trees was chosen for the break – Noel had brought a large bag of ex courgettes which were generously shared amongst the fellow workers.

These fabulous pictures sum up what a happy bunch we are – especially when refreshments are involved.

After the break Team Leader Kevin took over cutting duty, with the cut material being removed almost as quickly as it was felled.

We finished on the dot of 11.00, hot and sweaty; so we came in on time and on budget!

Here is Team Leader Margaret’s message of thanks:

Hello all,

I have now had a cup of tea and a reviving shower. I am sure the other 15 folk have all done the same, blow any water shortage. Thank you so much to a grand bunch of people. We have managed to complete all the work required on the middle section of the common in 2 weeks instead of the 3 I was expecting. It was a lovely atmosphere there today you are all such a super group to work with. Thank you.

We will be moving to North of the Beck on the 4th September where I am sorry to say the material we are moving will be much heavier but I am sure we will manage as usual.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and we all wish the best to Julie and Roger.

Margaret on behalf of the team leaders

 

Undaunted by the rigours of Sunday, a mere two days later five hardy souls convened at The Pit to cut the wildflower area and strim the reeds overwhelming the pond. Like so many others, it is currently sadly depleted of water, with little hope of it filling in the near future.

 

 

 

Oh for a Nightingale

 

We don’t get Nightingales on Southrepps Commons, which is a great pity because we seem to have some of the right habitat for them. John Keats in his famous ode to the bird mentions the “… verdurous glooms and winding messy ways" where it can be found, and we've a few of those. We might not have Nightingales, more's the pity, but we do have Himalayan Balsam, more's the pity, and it tends to grow in choking profusion in some of those “verdurous glooms” – the haunts of plentiful sting-y and bite-y things.

And so it was that last Thursday, with the thermometer already registering over 20⁰ C, four brave souls ventured forth to remove as much of this pernicious plant as could be done before heat exhaustion took its toll.

Team Leaders Margaret and Julie were admirably prepared for the fray:

Despite the general lack of pleasure involved in the task, it is strangely compelling; there’s always another clump near the lot you promised yourself would do for today, and so the self-imposed torture goes on. Nonetheless, after the length of time it takes to play a football match (excluding extra time and penalties), the decision was taken to cease and indeed desist, and so we gratefully did.

The plants might be pretty...

...but they grow prodigiously, and with few (if any) predators they quickly out-compete all the other vegetation (except nettles).

Meanwhile, three of the crack Grizzly driver team were busy performing what has come to be known as the pre-cut for the forthcoming working party. After an abrupt change of plan generally only associated with leadership election campaigns it was decided that the central area of the Common should be the place to be given the treatment first. For several years now it has been Natural England’s requirement that this and the other alternative location on the Warren Road side of the Beck should be cut between August and the end of September. This is unfortunate on two counts: those two months tend to be far hotter for working in than when we used to start cutting, and we volunteers are mostly not in the first flush of youth; and secondly, many of the most iconic plants for the site tend to be in flower. As it happens, at this time the area was also being botanically surveyed to provide data on what effect the current cutting regime is having on the plant community there, and it was discovered that plants such as Grass of Parnassus have not yet started to flower – so if the cut is done now, the flowers should still be able to delight us all.

In addition to those two tasks, mowing and raking off was done at Pit Common by the self-identifying Fab Four – more hot work, but a great result.

On the subject of the Pit, our NWT warden George has recently visited it to attempt to control the horrible invasive Crassula that has so rapidly smothered it, so we must wait to see if he has had any success.

Here is Team Leader Julie’s messages of thanks:

A big thank you goes out to the four individuals who pulled Himalayan Balsam today.  It is always amazing how much each individual person can achieve in a couple of hours. You can certainly see where the volunteers have been.

On another note I would like to just say a huge thank you to the individuals that work so hard in the background on the Southrepps Commons and probably do not get the recognition they deserve:

* The team that turns out regularly during the summer to mow the Pit area to keep the pathways clear to the benches and to keep sightlines from the benches to the Pit clear.

* The team that turns out before all the Sunday work parties on the Fen and Reed beds, piloting 'Grizzly' to cut the reed ready for the work party and also clear the dump sites for the winch to operate in.

* The survey team who spend hours at this time of year surveying specified reference areas to record the plant and moss species so that NWT can supply Natural England with scientific information on the effectiveness of the Fen maintenance that we do.

* The admin personnel who take all the information from the sightings board to maintain a record for NWT on the bird/animal life on the commons; feed statistics on volunteer hours on the commons to NWT to assist in their funding bids; maintain the blog and generally keep communication flowing between the Commons Volunteers and NWT.

WHAT A TEAM WE HAVE - THANK YOU!

Regards, Julie

(What Julie modestly omitted from the list above is the contribution she makes. She, and also Margaret, puts in a great deal of time and effort in setting up our work sessions and telling us all when and where to turn up, thanking us for our efforts afterwards (which is always much appreciated), liaising with NWT about what needs to be done and when, welcoming new recruits and generally keeping the whole show on the road.)

The main working party, the first of the current season, convened on Sunday morning. We were presented with a large amount of material to clear away as a result of the sterling work done three days earlier, which was already being rapidly added to by our doughty Grizzly operator.

The winch was set up in the Alder carr not far from the Beck. This afforded the doughty winch crew pleasantly shady working conditions…

… but they had to contend with a temperamental machine. The start chord was jamming (email already sent to NWT warden George about the replacement parts needed before we use it again)!

We had a good turnout of 11 equally doughty volunteers today, enjoying a workout in the sunshine.

The almost rain-free and very warm weather lately had had the effect of drying the vegetation nicely, making for relatively easy raking and pitchforking of it onto the drag sheets. At the dumping site, tipping the stuff out onto heaps was also easier than it often is, accompanied by that evocative scent of new-mown hay. Nonetheless, it was still warm work, and the half-time break was as welcome as ever.

After the break, one man continued to mow…

... and the rest of us continued to dispose of the "arisings". By the end of the session we found we had surprised ourselves at how much we had done. It’s a satisfying feeling to look back across the wide expanse of fen and realise that what seemed a daunting task at the outset had been achieved – thanks to the excellent teamwork from all concerned.

Here is Team Leader Julie’s message of thanks for this session too:

Hello all.

It was a beautiful day on the Common this morning. Huge thanks go to the 11 volunteers who turned out to help with the first session clearing the central fen area.  We shifted everything that had been cut which was amazing.  I think we were all thankful for the last-minute change of 'venue' - the arisings are much lighter and drier on the central fen area. Hopefully, you have all gone home to relax this afternoon!

We will return to the Central area in two weeks’ time (21st August) and look forward to seeing those of you that can make it then.  A confirmation email will be sent (as usual) a few days before.

Enjoy the sunshine.

Regards, Julie (for the Team Leaders)